Credit score dropped after paying off 2 vehicles

[Anonymous]

I recently sold my condo and had some equity that allowed me to payoff my 2 car loans. I checked my fico score prior to paying off the loans and it was 715. After I paid the car loans off it dropped 37 points. I have no delinquencies on any accounts and have a long history of always paying on time. Why would paying off debt of 28,000 in car loans kill my score? 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I recently sold my condo and had some equity that allowed me to payoff my 2 car loans. I checked my fico score prior to paying off the loans and it was 715. After I paid the car loans off it dropped 37 points. I have no delinquencies on any accounts and have a long history of always paying on time. Why would paying off debt of 28,000 in car loans kill my score? 

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This probably will get moved to the understanding FICO scoring forum but your score dropped because you removed two installment loans.  The FICO scoring model likes a combination of installment and revolving credit.

[ojefferyo]

^^^ that, you got rid of the installments which fico wants to see

[Anonymous]

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@ojefferyo wrote:

^^^ that, you got rid of the installments which fico wants to see

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Good thing two of our auto loans were opened this year then.

Our oldest loan is due to be paid off in the next few months though

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@ojefferyo wrote:

^^^ that, you got rid of the installments which fico wants to see

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Good thing two of our auto loans were opened this year then.

Our oldest loan is due to be paid off in the next few months though

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Then it will be time to buy another car. 

[Anonymous]

This is the reason I have installments, even though I could afford to pay in full. 

[ojefferyo]

When my installments are about to be paid off I just add a bit more to keep it open, good part about it is when I opened it was I never had to take a HP on any CRA because it was for business purpose.

[Anonymous]

Ok, dumb question time - would it prevent a score drop if you took out a small personal loan a couple of months before paying off an auto loan?